He coached crews to medals at ten Olympiads from 1972 to 2016, with the exception of the 1984 Games, which were boycotted by Eastern Bloc countries.
[2][3] Having studied sports science at Leipzig University, he returned to his local rowing club in Magdeburg and first attracted attention by coaching Wolfgang Güldenpfennig to the bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics.
[5] When Germany was reunited and the East German national sports administration collapsed in 1991, Gröbler moved to Britain where he was employed by Leander Club and the Amateur Rowing Association.
In an interview in 1998 he admitted that he had "difficulties" with the thought that drug taking may have caused medical problems for rowers, and that he had given "snippets" of information to the Stasi, the East German security organisation.
This followed him and the crew in the years leading up to the Olympics, showing the hard work and tough decisions he faced in the quest for gold.